Walt Disney World has recently made a small change to the Disney Starlight parade that we hope is an indicator of bigger and better improvements to come. Recently, Disney updated the props for the ground performers in the Moana section of the parade, but that’s not all! When we visited, a number of other ground performers were cut from the parade. Was that a one-off, or are more changes on the horizon? We made it out to Magic Kingdom recently to take a look!
Disney Starlight Parade Improvements to Moana Unit
In our initial Disney Starlight parade review, our title said that the parade had “great bones” but that it was in “desperate need for a glow-up”. The argument was that the things that would be difficult to change such as the floats and music, were actually really good. That said, I thought that there was room for improvement, notably with the ground performers.
Now, it looks like Disney may be starting to make improvements to the parade. That said, it’s also possible that the changes made were not due to negative feedback, but instead the changes could have been implemented due to difficulties with some of the older props. Either way, a change was made this weekend, and we made it out to take a look at the improved Moana unit ground performers.
In short, the Moana ground performers have new glowing props, replacing the “fans” that they used to have. The new props appear to be fiber optic whips, for lack of a better term. The new props are the same as the fairy props in the Paint the Night Parade at Disneyland.
Here’s a look back at the old handheld props for the Moana ground performers, followed by a look at the new props that debuted recently!
And here are the new props!
Here’s a video of the new props and choreography. Ultimately, while the props are easier to see than what was utilized before, there is still a long way to go on costuming and ground performers before Disney Starlight reaches the level of other great nighttime parades of the past.
VIDEO
Performers Cut from Encanto & Frozen Units
In addition to the new props for the Moana ground performers, the ground performers for the Encanto unit were cut entirely. It’s unclear if this is temporary or if there are more changes on the way. If just one ground performer group was missing, I’d say it was temporary – perhaps staffing issues. However, when two ground performer groups are missing, and there were recent updates to another ground performer group, I’m starting to think that there may be something larger at play here.
Something to keep an eye on going forward, for sure.
Of course, the hope is that there are some updates being made to either the props or the costuming for the missing ground performers. Again, we’d advocate for continued updates, upgrades, and expansions to the ground performer lineup to “fix” Disney Starlight.
Here’s a look back at the (currently missing) ground performer groups when the parade debuted earlier this Summer.
Adjustments to Peter Pan Float
One other adjustment that might be worth keeping an eye on is the removal of some of the city skyline from the Peter Pan float. This change happened a while ago, but it’s something that we think could lead to Peter Pan and Wendy eventually flying. As you might remember, Peter Pan and Wendy were shown to be flying in the concept art, but they have yet to take flight since the parade debuted.
Here’s a before/after of the skyline changes.
While I wouldn’t say that any of the changes necessarily “fix” Disney Starlight yet, I’m hopeful that the recent changes are just the start of Disney working to improve the first nighttime parade at Magic Kingdom in nearly a decade.
For photos, full parade video, and our complete review of the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, check out our dedicated page below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
